The SEND cycle of action

The SEND Code of Practice (DfE 2014) states that settings working with children with SEND should adopt a graduated approach to supporting their development, through a cycle of action with four stages. This cycle of action should be revisited in increasing detail and with increasing frequency, to identify the best way of securing good progress for a child.

Assess

A child’s difficulties must be assessed so that the right support can be provided. This should include asking parents what they think, talking to professionals who work with the child, and looking at records and other information. This could mean getting advice and further assessment from someone like an educational psychologist, a specialist teacher or a health professional.

The Early Help Assessment should be undertaken when there are initial concerns about a child’s development and progress, you can check if a child has an Early Help Assessment by contacting the Early Help team by phone: 01204 331392 or e-mail: boltonISA@bolton.gov.uk.

Plan

The setting needs to agree with parents the outcomes that the SEN support is intended to achieve. All those involved will need to have a say in deciding what kind of support will be provided, and decide a date when they will review this, so that they can check to see how well the support is working, and whether the outcomes have been or are being achieved. For further support on completing an Individual Provision Map/Individual Education Plan, please see the downloads section below.

Provision Mapping

Provision mapping is a planning tool used in educational settings for children recognised as needing additional support:

It is a way of organising your information about children in a readily accessible, easy to manage format.

It starts when a need is identified.

It enables you to target support, strategies and identify any gaps in provision.

To be effective it should cross reference the educational provision with the progress made by the child.

Many agencies now ask to see your provision map as part of a referral for their services.

Please see the downloads below for an example of a provision mapping tool.

Do

The setting will put the planned support into place. The key person remains responsible for working with the child on a daily basis, but the SENCO and any support staff or specialist teaching staff involved in providing support should work closely to track the child’s progress and check that the support is being effective.

Review

The setting will put the planned support into place. The key person remains responsible for working with the child on a daily basis, but the SENCO and any support staff or specialist teaching staff involved in providing support should work closely to track the child’s progress and check that the support is being effective. The Early Help action plan should be reviewed in line with this.